'Call of Duty: Black Ops' Pulls In $650M in Five Days

The "Call of Duty: Black Ops" craze continues. Activision on Thursday reported that the game has set an all-new five-day worldwide sales record of more than $650 million.

The "Call of Duty: Black Ops" craze continues. Activision on Thursday reported that the game has set an all-new five-day worldwide sales record of more than $650 million, up from the $550 million its predecessor  "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2"  earned during the same time period.

"'Call of Duty' has become the first entertainment property in history to set five-day launch records for two consecutive years across all forms of entertainment," Robert Kotick, chief executive of Activision Blizzard, said in a statement.

According to Microsoft, "Call of Duty: Black Ops" also set a record on Xbox Live. More than 2.6 million gamers signed on to play during launch day, logging 5.9 million multi-player hours by day's end.

Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, also said "Call of Duty: Black Ops" drove "unprecedented traffic to the PlayStation Network."

It was also the best-selling video game launch of all time on Amazon.com and GameStop.

The news comes several days after Activision announced that the game also set opening-day records. In its first 24 hours on the market, "Call of Duty: Black Ops" brought in $360 million in North America and the UK, besting the previous winner, "Modern Warfare: 2," by $50 million.

"Call of Duty: Black Ops" hit stores on November 9. The game, developed by Treyarch, provides "the deepest and most intense 'Call of Duty' experience ever," according to Activision. Players engage in guerilla warfare and covert ops in the middle of the wilderness in single and multiplayer formats. This release also incorporated 3D elements, which is available on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows PCs.

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University...
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